Skip to main content Skip to footer

Current opportunities and events

Toolkit launch: Engaging with Evidence

Following an immersive capability building pilot with the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) in partnership with CAPE, Nesta is excited to launch their Engaging with Evidence Toolkit – a practical resource to strengthen capabilities for evidence use and expert engagement. 

Bringing together insights from the pilot and across the sector on what we know helps to strengthen capabilities for evidence-informed decision-making in practice, the toolkit will help decision-makers learn about what evidence and expertise can be mobilised towards the right purposes at the right time. Through a combination of theory, case studies and interactive activities, it is a practical, easy-to-use resource for governments, knowledge intermediaries, and others interested in advancing capabilities for evidence use and expert engagement.

Join them for the launch on Tuesday 6 December 12:00 – 13:30, as they bring together evidence experts and practitioners from across the research-policy nexus to discuss the challenges and opportunities for strengthening capabilities for evidence use and expert engagement for policy development. 

Open to all interested.

Register

CAPE & UPEN sharing session: collaboration in academic policy engagement

Join CAPE & UPEN on 26 January 2023 10:30-12:00 for a sharing session where we’ll discuss ‘collaboration’ in academic policy engagement. You’ll hear more about how we’ve collaborated in CAPE, from academics and policy partners we work with, and discuss what collaboration can look like across policy engagement. 

Open to all interested.

Register
Keep up to date on CAPE events

How to get involved with CAPE

We are always interested in having conversations with those who work in public policy (whether at national, regional or local levels) or public policy relevant organisations to see how we could work with you. CAPE has four mechanisms through which we are exploring academic-policy engagement:

  • Policy fellowships
  • Collaborative funding
  • Knowledge exchange events
  • Training for policy professionals and academics

    • We can work with you to explore whether these mechanisms would work for your organisation and how we could employ these most effectively.

    Note that as a research project we will be evaluating our activities throughout and expect those with whom with collaborate to contribute to this evaluation.

    To discuss getting involved with CAPE, email us.

    Academic, research, and professional services staff at CAPE partner universities can get involved in CAPE in a number of ways:

  • Apply for fellowships to be based in policy organisations. These will be advertised on this page and through our newsletter.
  • Meet policy fellows from policy organisations to discuss their policy priorities and your area of expertise. Get in touch with your institutional coordinator to find out if a policy fellow aligns with your research.
  • Attend knowledge exchange events such as roundtables or workshops with policy stakeholders.
  • Apply for the CAPE collaboration fund. Please note that professional service staff are eligible to be CO-I on these projects.
  • Be involved with the CAPE university training scheme when it launches


    • We welcome involvement from staff at all levels of seniority and particularly (self-identifying) women, disabled, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, LGBTQ+, and neurodivergent staff as they are underrepresented in academic-policy engagement. Previous policy experience is not needed to be involved with CAPE.

    Opportunities will be advertised on this page when available and also disseminated through our newsletter.

    Each CAPE partner university has a dedicated coordinator who is responsible for coordinating CAPE activity across their institution. Opportunities for staff at specific institutions will be disseminated by the appropriate coordinator. All coordinators welcome opportunities to discuss ways to be involved so please do get in touch with them.

    Find out who your institutional coordinator is.

    At the moment, due to CAPE’s remit, we are not developing initiatives with students specifically. However, we believe in encouraging students to learn about academic policy engagement during their career so recommend signing up for our newsletter to find out about our academic policy learnings.

    Although some CAPE opportunities are open to CAPE university partner staff only, we are happy to hear from colleagues at non CAPE partner universities about how we might learn together and to discuss if there are shared interests that we could explore relevant to the CAPE project.

    If you are a member of staff a non-CAPE partner you can:

  • Attend CAPE knowledge exchange events when these are public events
  • Work with colleagues in CAPE member HEIs to develop joint application for the CAPE Collaboration Fund as CO-I (when the PI is at CAPE member HEI). Note that professional services staff are eligible to be a CO-I on this funding.
  • Sign up to our newsletter to keep up-to-date with our learnings from the project
  • Listen to our podcast and follow us on twitter to find out about CAPE learnings


    • Public knowledge exchange events will be advertised here and also disseminated through our newsletter. 

    At the moment, due to CAPE’s remit, we are not developing initiatives with students specifically. However, we believe in encouraging students to learn about academic policy engagement during their career so recommend signing up for our newsletter to find out about our academic policy learnings.